Reviews

Characters trapped in their terminally dull lives skull vodka shots with abandon in theatre that is anything but dull, as a cast of Australia’s finest actors rampage deliciously through Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

Uncle Vanya is my favourite play, stretching, as it does, seamlessly across the boundary between drama and comedy, and the fine membrane between surface wit and depressive pain.

Brilliant!  What a night of entertainment. This would have to be the best musical produced by the Malanda Theatre Company in a long time. It’s that good it wouldn’t look out of place in an off-Broadway production. The young cast gave it everything, including powerful singing and fast-paced choreography. Full credit must go to directors Gill Harrington, Erin Barrett and choreographer Felicity Stoetzel for their vision, hard work and ability to get the best out of a highly talented cast.

In what seems like an awfully quick one hour. Tom Gleeson takes us on a rollicking ride of personal stories - everything from moving into a former morgue in Romsey, Victoria, to stories about the village oddball who knocks on people’s doors late at night announcing “Where’s Jeff?” (you have to see the show to ‘get it’). Gleeson has us wrapped around his animated little finger from the word go.

Delightful evenings like Angela’s Kitchen are a reminder of just how powerful, engaging and charming theatre at its simplest storytelling levels can be.